Thousands of internet sites are taking part in a "blackout" protest against anti-piracy laws being discussed by US lawmakers.

The Wikipedia encyclopedia and blogging service WordPress are among the highest profile pages to remove material.

Google is showing solidarity by placing a black box over its logo when US-based users visit its site.

The Motion Picture Association of America has branded the action as "irresponsible" and a "stunt".

Visitors to Wikipedia's English-language site are greeted by a dark page with white text that says: "Imagine a world without free knowledge... The US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia."

It provides a link to more details about the House of Representatives' Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and the Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa).

If users try to access its other pages via search sites, the text briefly flashes up before being replaced by the protest page. However, people have been sharing workarounds to disable the redirect.

In my opinion, piracy for entertainment purposes (music, movies) should not be a crime. Generally, musicians and actors/directing staff earn much more money than they deserve. Why should they earn more than arguably more important professions, such as surgeons and medical researchers? As a result, I don't feel it's morally wrong to buy/download pirated material.

In my opinion, piracy for entertainment purposes (music, movies) should not be a crime. Generally, musicians and actors/directing staff earn much more money than they deserve. Why should they earn more than arguably more important professions, such as surgeons and medical researchers? As a result, I don't feel it's morally wrong to buy/download pirated material.

Totally against this bill.

who's to say actor1 deserves X amount of dollars and another deserves another amount. Its a free market.

plus, musicians make a lot more money on live shows, endorsements and their own products than they do on selling their songs. I've always argued from a marketing perspective that songs should be free to capture the biggest audience possible so they come to your shows and buy they stuff you sell.